This paper by the Jaenisch lab deserves a mention.
They created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with starting material from people suffering from Parkinson's disease. These cells now can be used to explore both therapeutic applications and the mechanism of the disease.
The group, also removed the virus integrated reprogramming factors, which may lead to unwanted consequences further down the line, using a Cre-loxP system (Dr. Nagy's group from Canada and Dr. Woltjen's group from the UK have also published a similar technique recently).
I am always worried about genomic instability with this system, since there are multiple integration sites. So, in theory different chromosomes can recombine. However, this has been addressed in the paper and it has been shown that when the integration number is low, karyotype is normal after removal.
With Geron starting its clinical trial with cells differentiated from hES cells, I don't think we will have to wait long for the first iPS clinical trials.
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